{"id":12816,"date":"2020-04-25T17:09:54","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T21:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/?p=12816"},"modified":"2020-05-19T20:45:43","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T00:45:43","slug":"ford-designed-a-coronavirus-respirator-now-its-going-into-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/ford-designed-a-coronavirus-respirator-now-its-going-into-production\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford designed a coronavirus respirator \u2013 now it\u2019s going into production"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ford will begin respirator production this week at a facility in Michigan, partnering with 3M to dramatically increase the availability of vital healthcare equipment during the coronavirus pandemic. Designed by Ford, the new powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) follows the automaker\u2019s assistance at 3M manufacturing facilities, where it helped increase production.\n <\/p>\n

That, however, was only the first stage of the plan announced in late March. In addition to bringing Ford\u2019s manufacturing, purchasing, and supply chain heft to bear on 3M\u2019s lines, the automaker was also developing a PAPR design of its own. It uses components Ford is already very familiar with, albeit implemented in different ways.\n<\/p>\n

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For example, the air blower system \u2013 which uses a fan and a HEPA filter to pump clean air into a hood and face shield assembly worn by healthcare professionals \u2013 is similar to that found in the ventilated seats of the F-150 pickup. It\u2019s all powered by a rechargeable battery, which Ford says can run for up to eight hours on a charge.\n<\/p>\n

Altogether it took less than four weeks of development to come up with the design. Production is expected to begin on Tuesday, April 14, at the Vreeland facility near Flat Rock, Michigan. A team of approximately 90 paid UAW volunteers will be manning the line, with Ford suggesting they could produce 100,000 or more of the PAPR respirators.\n<\/p>\n

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Before it can be used in healthcare settings, mind, Ford\u2019s design does need to get government approval. The automaker says it expects the respirator to be green-lit with the pending National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) limited-use protocol. That could be granted by the end of April.\n<\/p>\n

3M will be responsible for actual distribution, using its existing network across the US to make sure the respirators reach the right audience. \u201c3M and Ford will donate any profits they earn from the sale of the PAPR to COVID-19 related nonprofit organizations,\u201d the two companies confirmed.\n<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, Ford is also looking to have its face masks certified for medical use, having begun production of the protective equipment at the Van Dyke Transmission Plant. Eventually, the automaker says, it expects to have around 80 paid UAW volunteers building the marks, using an adapted ISO Class 8 cleanroom. Reusable gown production is also underway with airbag supplier Joyson Safety Systems, using the same material that is normally relied upon for airbags in Ford vehicles. Production there is expected to reach 75,000 gowns per week by Sunday.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Ford will begin respirator production this week at a facility in Michigan, partnering with 3M to dramatically increase the availability of vital healthcare equipment during the coronavirus pandemic. Designed by Ford, the new powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) follows the automaker\u2019s assistance at 3M manufacturing facilities, where it helped increase production. That, however, was only the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12816"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16043,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12816\/revisions\/16043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}